From TomS: More 28mm Koreans, Japanese and Burmese! [History][Art][Sarah's Book Cart] (415 points)

It may have been a few weeks but hi again!

This week im posting my collective work since my last post, and its very delayed mostly down to to drive to want to paint more models rather than actually base up what I have (I've still got some painted but unbased ready for, hopefully next week). 

First things first, the rest of my Lion Rampant Korean army, if you remember my handgunners from the 18th of Jan, and to mark this occasion I thought I would claim those 20points for history as it, like my Japanese represent forces for the Mongol/Goryeo occupation of Tsushima in 1274. 

 

Nothing too special here just 12 Korean archers hoping to stay out of harms way on the table, Like my last post I decided to keep the colour palette the same across the whole army to give it a sense of disunited uniformity, and again some snowy/autumnal bases as the invasion was in November and I couldn't pass up some pretty/different bases. 

and keeping those archers safe we have some 'Hyup-Do' wielders which I'm led to believe means "Spear Sword" usually only 4ft long and seemingly used somewhat like a sword rather than the polearmy spear it may resemble (but shhh don't tell anyone I play against as I'm using the models for a spear unit)

The first of my two heavy cavalry units, is predominately armed with bows although they can still pack a punch in melee! Painting these I was mildly surprised how much fun I was having painting horses in 28mm, something that I utterly despise in my native 15mm. These sculpts from Perry Miniatures were very detailed on the musculature of the horse allowing a painters best friend, Washes, to highlight the depth of the model. 

The final unit for my Korean warband plus their General sporting a (I hope) pretty fan that we'll get to later. Now I'm sure youve spotted the fact that these guys are dual wielding swords on horseback! and while this was very uncommon, it does seem to be a practise that the Koreans used and even had a name Masang ssanggeom, like the Hyup-Do this comes from the Muyedobotongji a book on Korean swords and their techniques written in 1790 based on an early text known as the Muyesinbo.

This Picture illustrating the technique from the Muyedobotongji.

The General for this force is loosely based on one of the Korean commanders during the attack on Tsushima but due to lack of artwork that I could find on most of them I have decided not to claim any real famous person reference, instead focusing on his fan to try an emulate some of the beautiful decorative fans of the region that I would never be able to come close to properly copying! 

I used a green for the hand hold as I had already got a few light browns on the model and didn't want it to blend in with his arm guard. The artwork itself is trying to be cherry blossoms falling off a branch in the foreground and flowing in the wind, while some birds fly in the background, drawn obviously in the easy childhood fashion of a swooped v. It didn't come out perfect nor could I get a good enough photo of it but I blame that on the small surface area and it being covered in grooves! 

but yeah, that's the Koreans a project I had no idea I would start even in early to mid December but now in February the full force is based and painted!

We're somehow not done yet! next is the start of Japanese warband and also my bookcart to get me from room 2(which I will get onto later) to the room with art and literature!

10 female archers using warlord Onna-bugeisha models that I just adore and could not pass up painting! from the reading I have done these will be based on the Onna-musha common in the Sengoku era. Whilst my army is not in this era, I thought that it would make sense to theme my army based on the survivors/guerillesque forces left on tsushima to protect temples homes or villages before the Mongols and Koreans left some days or weeks after the invasion commenced. Each set of colours is meant to represent a family and i will hopefully try to mimic this in the small Samurai contingent of the warband to tie it all together, although ultimately they will all fall under the banner of the So Clan. 

And finally, gosh this has gone on for a while. A surprise entry even to me, a 28mm Burmese elephant for my WIP Nanzhao army purchased  by my Fiancee as an early valentines present, which I thought would make a lovely model for the romance section!

For historical context, I have not been able to find much at all linking the army of Nanzhao to having elephants, let alone the platformed ones of Burma. But due to the proximity of both states and historical nations love for mercenaries I have been harping on about this model for a good week or two which is why I would assume my Fiancee purchased it for me! Whilst not being massive in size, the side platforms allow this elephant to carry a whooping 8 archers as well as the Mahout allowing it to be used in a completely different way to how Elephants in wargamming are often viewed, massive killing machines, and more of a somewhat mobile but tanky archer unit.

I look forward in the coming weeks to hopefully finish off the Japanese and Nanzhao warbands and if there is time I may be able to sneak in my Tibetans as well! 

(Library so far, if I've done this right, I had already unlocked room 2, then used the book cart to pop into the art room)

So Points claimed:
12 28mm Cavalry - 120pts
34 28mm infantry - 170pts
1 28mm Elephant with 9 crew - 56pts (Im led to believe its 20pts for the elephant and 4pts for each crew?)

Romance, history, Book Cart and Art - 80pts  

so 426 overall! not too bad for 3 weeks of painting considering my target was 300pts :) 

TeemuL: Always difficult to predit the points target, especially for the first timers. Would you like to change your target in order to have some challenge for the rest of the Challenge? Your colourful basing really catches the eye and your artistic fan is a great emulation of the real thing in 28mm scale. I really am en elephant person and the one you received from you fiance is a great animal and nicely painted (and I counted it as a 28mm vehicle as done in the past and given full 5 points for each crew), but even though the miniature is a romantic gift, I am expecting a bit more for the location. I'm looking for something romantic in the miniatures itself, if you understand what I mean. The total points value is thus 415, a hefty amount still.

From Matt T - Elephant Sized Hole - [ 40 points ]

One of the attractions of the Khwarazmian Army is the option to take an elephant instead of a unit of medium cavalry. When i bought the majority of the lead from Gripping Beast I also picked up one of their Timurid Elephants.

When they arrived the Elephant crew were on the chunkier side compared to the rest of the army. I think if I had painting them they would have looked fine on the table, but while they were on the painting desk and my focus was 100% on them the difference was niggling away at me, so I decided to convert mine.

It turned out to be a bit more work than initially planned but when you have fallen down a rabbit hole I figure you may as well keep going and see where it ends.

I kept the initial elephant but sourced a howdah from Aventine Miniatures. It initially looked like it was floating in space so I used some wire to create some ropes attaching the howdah to the elephant. The mahout had a head swap so he echoed the light cavalry, as well as some milliput on the feet to create boots. The crew in the howdah are from the same range as the earlier medium cavalry I posted from Aventine Miniatures. Fortunately the body's come separately from the legs, so I attached them to some plastic legs I had and used some milliput to make a simple tunic around the join.

Anyway, this is my elephant. There are many others like it, but this one is mine.

1 x 28mm Elephant and 3 crew = 40 35 points

Gotta have a Heffalump if the list allows and yours is truly lovely.  I do like the armour on the beast and the howdah conversion looks really good.  Plus you got to fall down a research rabbit hole, one of my main reasons for keeping my armies historical.

Consultation with fellow minions indicates that the elephant counts as a vehicle for 20 plus 5 each for the crew make a total of 35.  However, I'll add a few for the conversion, armour and casework.

From JezT Post 3 - Ancient Successor Reinforcements - 28mm (70 points)

Dear All 

Switch for me this week and pleased to get another squirrel again by expanding on my bases for Basic Impetus rules armies. I already have an Alexandrian Macedonian v Persian classic combination and from this it makes sense to expand into the Successor range of armies by painting up some new options. If you are not aware Basic Impetus have set armies using around 8-12 "bases". From the Successor list I was especially interested to play the "Lysimachos" army list using Thracian options. 

My original figures are all Wargames Foundry but the reinforcements come from Gripping Beast and Aventine Miniatures - here was new to Aventine miniatures but very impressed. 

Anyway first up are just 7 new painted 28mm infantry figures:

2 slinger, 4 falx and 1 javelin new figures 

Next up my first ever Elephant painted - from Gripping Beast. 

In total think it is 70 points - 7 x 5 - 35 for the infantry and then 20 for the Elephant with extra 15 for the 3 crew. Should be some more reinforcements next week, sadly no more elephants planned though.  

Cheers Jez

From TeemuL: I have always liked elephants and here is a nice example, sorry to hear that there no more of them planned. :( But, one is better than none and the browns and yellows work very nicely on this grey behemoth. I'll give you a few extra points, there seems to be hand painted shield and two more on the howdah.

From MartinC: 15mm Classical Indian Army plus Alice (155 Points)

After a very nice Christmas with the family and utterly butchering my diet I'm back at the desk. My main Christmas present from the family was a 15mm Classical Indian Army, Essex Miniatures and 2nd hand. So I spent a day prepping some of the figures and have painted up a few of them

The bulk of any Indian army are the archers. These are really easy to paint. Essex aren't the best figures but they are perfectly serviceable and I will add some posher Forged in Battle and Xyston figures as officers etc.

These archers are 4 to a 40x40mm. These means I can use them for almost all rules systems

Hard to add some detail but looking at these again I think that I may highlight some of the white on the loincloth to make them pop more. The tufts are Tajimal are essential 

In total I have painted 15 bases and have another 9 to go to finish the archers

 Whilst archers are the backbone of the army it is the elephants that provide the headbut. This army has many

These figures are nice, not overly dynamic but well sculpted

Painting the designs on the blanket and the elephant is fun and will get better as I get used to it

I've been painting other stuff, 1st two bonus rounds are completed (ish). But I have 3 main tasks for this years challenge, these Indians, complete my Norman army and sort out the bits and pieces that I need to finish off parts of my collection.

So I have a sprue of female zombie hunters that I picked up at a bargain price from Warlord and will be painting these during the challenge. First up is Alice, she was chased out of her trailer when the zombies took over, although I'm surprised anybody noticed the change on the trailer park

She's not a woman to mess with

Although she does look a bit like a drag queen

So on to the points

1x28mm = 5

60 x 15mm foot = 120

2 elephants = 6 crew = 12 plus the elephants which I've classed as vehicles so another 16

giving a grand total of 153 pts.

__________________________

Don't feel too bad Martin, I think many of us had our 'daily dietary requirements' pummelled into submission by repeated festive feasts. Personally, I feel like an overstuffed but content walrus.

Nice Christmas haul with the Indian army!  The archers' monopose is covered nicely in that, by necessity, they all have to take the same pose to do their job. They look excellent all mobbed together in their formations. Elephants are always a crowd-pleaser and these don't disappoint.  I like the hand-painted blanket patterns on the elephants' tack.

I think the French would term Alice as, 'enorme formidable'.  Hey, she might be from the wrong side of the tracks, but with that RPG we can clearly see that this woman knows how to accessorise. The 'classy' tattoo is a nice touch as well (I had written something else, but the manners my mother hard-wired into me made me delete it). :)

With a few pips added for the bespoke blankets, that puts this entry at a very tidy 155 points. Lovely work Martin!

From GrahameH: Last post and not a Russian in Sight (960 Points)

I missed posting anything last week due to work and stuff, so posting two weeks worth now . Guess this will be my last post until next year. Looking back I think I set my goal far too low. But it was my first year and I will know better next year. Overall this has been great fun, and I might have painted more than I purchased (might?)

Bit of a mix but here goes.

Spanish

My last pike block for this Tercio.

Spanish Pike - 36 Figures (Essex Miniatures)

 English (Late Tudors to fight the Spanish above)

All Cavalry (23 Mounted Figures - Essex)

The General and Escort

Border Horse (There are two units of these)

 

Demi Lancers

French Wars of Religion


Catholics

45 Mounted Figures - Essex Miniatures

The General

Argoulets (Light Cavalry)

Reiters

Gendarmes (there are 4 units of theses)

Huguenot

48 Mounted Figures

"Millers" - 3 Units of these. Apparently called Miller because of the white coats they wore

A General and more Gendarmes (Not much different from the Catholic apart from the white feathers)

Mughal Late 1500s

Total 53 Mounted and 4 Elephants (All Essex)

One of the Heavy Cavalry Units and one of the General stands

Two of the Elephants

And the other two.

WW2 Germans

An just for a change from painting cavalry some Late War German Infantry

61 Infantry, 2 x 120mm Mortar, 2 x 81mm Mortar, 4 x MMG

A unit (Section, Platoon, Coy depending on what rules I am using)

4 MMGs with 3 crew

Two 81mm Mortar and 3 crew each

Two 120mm Mortars and 3 crew each

And that's it (sorry but had to rush this post just to ensure it went on). I have really enjoyed doing this challenge. Can't get over how much you can paint if you have a deadline, and I still haven't hit the painting wall yet. Any chance of running it for a further three months (maybe not)?

My thanks to those who ran the challenge and had the envious task of adding up the totals. Likewise, to  all those that took part and those who left comments regarding my entries.


Thursday Night

Had a spare hour so painted this for the Mughals

Mughal Heavy Artillery 

 Honest that is the last entry from me (this year).

There's still time Grahame! More than two days painting, Curt will still accept entries! 
Still, this is a massive points bomb to drop in on the final day: by my tally, 105 infantry, 178 cavalry/guns and 4 elephantine 'vehicles' across four different armies. And is that fourteen flags I count. I've got to count those. A teensy bit of a pity that there aren't more of those Russians though, particularly the seemingly endless Cossacks in your lead pile.  

I've really enjoyed your entries Grahame, really impressive not only in the sheer number of miniatures painted and speed at which you work, but also maintaining a high quality and distinctive style: neat, excellent colour choices and good detailing and basing. All things I'm not very good at when I work in 15s. 

960 points for one entry - not quite enough to join the 1000 points club, damn close. Your tally is now over 3300 points, more than three times your target.Huge congratulations - that's such impressive output, particularly of this quality. 

Phil